HotZone

Characters

• Initial GM: User:Johnm
• Tag Leonards, the paranoid demo-man, played by User:Jesster
• somebody, played by User:Brantdanger
• somebody, played by User:Jslife

Background

It's 2017 on Gurth, and the world has changed significantly in the last 20 years. America invaded Iraq in 2003, and tensions began escalating worldwide immediately. In 2008, the sectarian violence in Iraq spread like wildfire, and War in Iraq became the War in the Middle East which became the Central Asian Crisis. Long before pundits stopped changing the label, it was a world class clusterfuck. Had Russia, China, and India not united to quell the violence through diplomatic means in 2011-2012, the crisis was on track to evolve into World War 3.

This gradual unraveling of peaceful cohabitation was apparent to military leaders in numerous countries, and in fact the United States Special Operations Command presciently predicted a change in strategy would be required way back in 2006 when they issued the following public statement:

“Creating conditions where people want to live peacefully is a powerful weapon against terrorism. Direct action will become increasingly restricted as the Global War on Terrorism matures. Indirect actions of Foreign Internal Defense and Civil Affairs programs are the key to winning the war on terror.” ref

Powerful governments with awesome military arsenals became increasingly aware that wielding their power was becoming politically untenable in all but the most extreme situations. United States Special Operations Command, as just one example of a trend worldwide, quadrupled in funding and personnel from 2008-2015, but forced a significant portion of their Direct Action specialists into early retirement, and instead filled their ranks with civil engineers, psy ops specialists, administrators, and diplomats.

However, focused Direct Action operations will always be required when organized groups are willing to commit violence to contravene national interests, and so outside of government military operations, a second and third tier of operatives evolved. The second tier consisted of large private security companies, with tens of thousands of employees, some tiny portion of which could be used for “wet work” of Direct Action operations.

The third tier has evolved over the past 7-8 years. Increasing public scrutiny over and demand for transparency in military expenditures in industrialized nations worldwide has made certain operations difficult to fund through the large and somewhat infamous security corporations. However, worldwide, government agencies always have funds available for classified “black” operations, and it is here that the third tier of operatives has found its niche.

This third tier, or “SubNet” is a loose affiliation of a few thousand specialists and commanders worldwide, mostly ex-military. By adopting terrorist organizations' practice of maintaining “cells” which know little about global operations, the SubNet maintains a thick veil and appears to be nothing more than disconnected gangs of shadowy figures.

Your group is one such cell.

You're based in Dili, East Timor, a desperately poor but relatively peaceful nation of about a million souls, 400 miles north of the coast of Australia.

You (might) come from diverse backgrounds, but have been working together the last 5 years for various governmental, quasi-governmental, and private organizations. Highlights of your activities during that period (which might give you an idea of what skills the team should possess):

In 2013, Australian Secret Intelligence Service paid your team AU$100k to blow up a warehouse in Jakarta it said contained munitions en route to terrorists in the Philippines.

In 2014, the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency paid your team US$80k to extract a political hostage imprisoned and tortured by separatist rebels for three years in the jungles of Malaysia.

In 2015, your team was paid US$200k by what was probably (you were never sure) an American CIA agent to assault a luxury yacht off the coast of Sri Lanka, and kill all aboard -- except the teenage son of a prominent local politician.

In 2016, a prince of Borneo personally paid you in emeralds worth US$100k to kidnap his own daughter, who had fallen in with a Christian doomsday cult deep in the jungle.

Throughout this time, you have also occasionally provided security for a (Contact) local entrepreneur named Malto Umbabo, primarily in the business of exporting marijuana to Australia. This activity, while officially illegal, has generally been nonviolent, and your Contact within Australian intelligence has been helpful in ensuring its smooth operation. However, one event made an impact on all of you.

On your first trip to the Australian mainland on Malto's behalf in 2015, your role was to go ashore in a rubber raft at night, and ensure an Australian gang was not lying in wait to seize the shipment as was rumored. The rumor turned out to be true, and a firefight erupted between your team and over a dozen gangsters. Team member Jack Stone, a stoic and effective American, was slain in the battle, and the rest of you might have been as well, had Malto not sent his untrained men ashore in a second raft with nothing but old revolvers to provided support and firepower. You've not forgotten the risk they took in deciding not to abandon you.

Your life in Dili is generally dull, with operation opportunities coming up only every several months. (You might have hobbies or businesses to occupy your downtime.) Operation dollars go a long way in a city where a gin and tonic is 50 cents and a blow-job is three bucks. Occasional payments to the (Contact) local police ensure little scrutiny over your activities, and you are careful not to participate in or aid any operations anywhere in East Timor.

You have Contacts that can provide air and sea travel, no questions asked.

You've had the opportunity to collect whatever standard firearms and TL7 ammunition you desire, as well as body armor and other reasonable military gear. In your weapons cache, you also have one SMAW anti-tank weapon with 2 rockets, and one pound of C4.

You all speak English and Portuguese (primary language in East Timor) adequately, as well as your native tongue and any other languages desired, consistent with your backstories.

200 points total
max 100 attributes
max 50 disadvantages
max 50 advantages
max 5 quirks

TL7 gear, but with enhancements similar to how we played the QRT campaign. Scrambled, hands-free communication devices with satellite uplink, Google Maps, etc.

As the curtain opens, the team is grumbling about boredom, sipping cocktails at the Tiki Bar on the beach, watching as a tropical spring thunderstorm rolls in.

What Happened

As the curtain opens, the team is grumbling about boredom, sipping cocktails at the Tiki Bar on the beach, watching as a tropical spring thunderstorm rolls in.